If you compared your troubles, or challenges, with those of others, you would surely find that there are those whose troubles make yours look like minor inconveniences.
~Catherine Purrsifer
Sleeping on a mansion was something Melor Horne definitely did not saw on his future.
The hybrid's life was never the easiest. Few could really understand the difficulties of being a hybrid, of being two different things at once. Most could not understand what it was feeling like you didn't belonged anywhere, and having others around you telling the very same thing simply because you were born different from both your parents.
Of course, the gazelle/leopard hybrid assumed others out there had it just as bad, or even worse. Some who had their own families reject them and mistreat them. However, knowing that didn't meant his life was any less sucky. Not the way everyone picked on him for being a "crossbred freak".
All his life Melor had to deal with stares, glares, insults, jeers, disrespect, and all of those things you need to deal with when you are different from the rest. He dealt with mammals who didn't appreciated or respected him. Who didn't think he deserved appreciation or respect. Who didn't thought his life had any use or value other than being their punching back/escaping goat/doormat.
Oh, how Melor wanted to find all of them and say:
"Guess what? I'm living in a mansion now! It's only for a while, but I'm living on a mansion, and I'm eating fancy food every day! I cannot taste it, but knowing I can eat all the expensive food I want feels soooo good! What about that for a 'useless hybrid'?"
Oh, how he would love saying that to their faces.
But, he could not. Still, he could bask on the feeling that, inside of that mansion, he could at least pretend to have it all and be successful, just enough to mentally rub it in the faces of all the jerks who picked on him.
That was what Melor thought as he looked through the window of the bedroom, smoking a catnip cigarette as he took in the changing colors of the first rays of the rising sun. The catnip flooding his system from his lungs and making the colors he saw, from dark-blue to green, seen more intense and vibrant. It also made the smell coming from down below, of the morning dew on the grass, seem more intense. And it made Legoshi's whimpers seem louder...
"N-no..." The wolf said, causing the hybrid to turn away from the window, to look at the canine tossing and turning on his bed, right by the side of Melor's...
"No. No... s-stop..." Legoshi said, turning on the bed as he whimpered. "I-I won't... I won't... give up... You won't... stop me... I'm not... I am... I... MY PANTS!"
The wolf sat on the bed at once. For a long moment, Legoshi remained sitting on the bed, panting, and looking forward with a thousand-yard stare. Slowly, the wolf seemed to notice he was in a bedroom. He relaxed, and that was when Melor finally asked:
"Bad one?"
The wolf looked at the hybrid, who stood by the window with a catnip cigarette on his hoof. For a long moment, the wolf and the hybrid looked at each other, before Legoshi looked away.
"They are still getting worse, aren't they?" Melor asked, walking to the wolf, who said nothing in return.
"T-they get more vivid." Legoshi said. "Seem real."
"Yeah, I guess they do." Melor said, looking at the wolf as he walked to his bed and sat on it, looking at the wolf. "So, how bad was this one?" He asked, seeing how the wolf still seemed a bit shaken, but not scared. Melor felt bad for not waking Legoshi up, but he knew from experience that it would end up with him pinned down by the wolf as the canine bared his fangs at him. Legoshi always woke up startled when he was having those dreams.
"Were you in the school again?" Melor asked, "The bear was coming after you again?"
Legoshi took a moment before he shook his head.
"I was on the market."
"Ah." Melor said, looking at him. "The meat market, right?"
Legoshi nodded. "My dreams have been focusing there lately." He confessed, and the hybrid looked at him for a few moments.
"Was it bad there?" Horne asked.
"It always is." Legoshi said, looking at him. "With the stands selling mammal meat..."
"I imagine." Melor said, looking at his friend. He then said:
"You know, last night you should have told a story about the meat market you dream about." The wolf looked at him as he said that, "You could have scored some good points with one of them. Like the one about the store that sold dead bunnies dressed like they were ready for a funeral. I bet bunny cop would have been creeped out by that."
Legoshi said nothing in return, then Melor continued:
"So, you were on the meat market again. Was I there again as well?" The hybrid asked, making the wolf look at him. "Was I a super-creepy, super-psychotic crime lord who you were trying to arrest again?"
Legoshi looked at him, and then he looked away, as if he felt ashamed for dreaming that about his best friend.
"Y-yeah..." He admitted. "Y-you kind of were. I-I didn't saw you in the dream but... I was trying to get to you. And I had to fight some vixens."
"Like the talking lizards of your last dream?" Melor asked him. The wolf nodded. The hybrid shrugged. "Well, they were smaller than you, so I am assuming you had it easier. Unless they were giant vixens."
"No, they were normal sized." Legoshi said, "But they were fast, and all of them had blades. They kept attacking me, and they had a one-eyed leader who charged at me swinging a machete. She didn't hit me, and I fought back, but them she tore my pants off. Then they all charged at me while I was pantless and I had no underwear."
For a long moment, the hybrid looked at the wolf, before he spoke:
"So, in your dream there were a bunch of vixens all charging at you, and they ripped out our pants and then jumped at you while you were naked?"
Legoshi nodded, looking at the hybrid, who looked back at him before laughing.
"Dude!" The hybrid said, smiling as his wolf friend. "That's not a nightmare! That's a wet dream!"
Legoshi looked at the hybrid, and was about to protest. However, he stopped to ponder about it, and then he looked away as a blush formed on his face, as he realized that the dream he had could be interpret in that way.
"I-it was scary, though." Legoshi said, "They had knives."
"Yeah, I imagine." Melon said, "Your id got some weird kinks."
This commentary made the wolf blush even further. The hybrid continued to look at him.
"And... was she there?"
Legoshi blinked and then looked at the hybrid, wondering what he meant. It took a few seconds to realize what the hybrid was talking about.
"Oh." Legoshi said, before shaking his head, "No, she was not there. She is never at the market. I mean... almost never. It is not a good place for her."
"Yeah, I imagine." Melor said, "I mean; it's a place where they sell mammal meat on the streets. But she's been there with you a few times, right? Like on that dream when you almost kissed."
Legoshi remained silent for a few moments, before shaking his head.
"She was definitely not there this time." Legoshi said, "I'm glad she wasn't. It was really dangerous this time..."
Melor looked at the wolf, and then he scoffed.
"Dude, you never had a girlfriend in your life, but you are all worried about some girl who you've literally only seem in your dreams." The hybrid said, looking at him. "You should seriously try to find some real girl to make out with."
"Melon." Legoshi whined, looking away as his face burned at the hybrid's comment.
"What? I'm just saying you should look for a real girl to spend your time with." Melon said to him. "Maybe a real bunny. You know, a small one but with a wide pair of hips and a good pair of-"
"W-we should go check on the bounded field." Legoshi said, getting out of the bed. "We need to make sure that everything is okay so Manechester-sama will not be madder at us than he already is."
Melor looked at him, and shrugged.
"Yeah, I'd rather avoid giving that guy more reasons to yell at us. He is already mad at us for yesterday." The hybrid said, getting up. They decided bating and getting for breakfast, and Legoshi bathed first. He needed the extra time to dry his thick fur, what was okay for the hybrid.
As Legoshi walked to the bathroom and locked himself there, the hybrid walked back to the window, and he leaned over it again, looking outside as he took some drags of his catnip cigarette.
What a beautiful day it was shaping out to be.
A whole new day for them to have problems.
Because that was the thing of days. Whenever they started, there was always possibility for new problems until the moment they ended.
The coming of a new day meant many things. To Melor Horne, one of those things was the coming of a whole new set of problems.
Sound of a bird chirping somewhere.
A car hoking outside.
The old lady who lived right by their side singing as she watered her flowers.
Those were the kinds of sounds Eliot usually heard when he woke up. That, of course, when he didn't woke up to the sound of the alarm clock by the bed or by the sweet voice of his wife.
Today he heard none.
Strange.
Oh, wait! The alarm clock was broken. It broke after Eliot spilled some water into it, and they were going to buy a new one.
That's why it didn't beeped today.
The alarm clock didn't beeped, and so his dear wife didn't woke up yet. She was still sleeping near him.
With that in mind, Eliot turned to his side and tried to put his arm out to pull his wife on a hug and smell her. But... she was not there.
Eliot's arm didn't touched anything as he stretched it.
Oh, did he tried the wrong side? Did he slept on the other side of the bed again?
Turning his body to the other side, Eliot tried again. He still could not touch someone else.
Had Chloe gotten up already? Was she preparing a reinforced breakfast to him today because she knew he had a hard time at work? Was that why she was not in bed with... him?
Wait. He was not on bed.
His bed didn't felt so hard and cold.
Then, it all came back.
Like a tidal flood, memories came crashing into Eliot's mind of what had happened on the previous night before he blacked out. As they came, they created a giant pit on his stomach and left the feeling that his heart was being squeeze inside his chest.
No... Was all Eliot could think. No. Please no. Say it didn't happened. Let it had all been a bad dream. Please, let me wake up and find out that Chloe made me sleep on the floor because she got mad at me for something. Anything other than what happened yesterday. Let my Pumpkin be safe and sound at home. Please...
Slowly, Eliot opened his eyes. He found himself laying on the ground. The house was trashed. Just like it had been on the last night when he came to find Tasman waiting for him, telling him he had Chloe, and would hurt her if Eliot didn't gave him what he wanted by the midnight of Halloween.
How many emotions one could feel at once on a moment like that?
Well, Eliot was pretty sure he was feeling all one could possibly do at a moment like that. He felt dread, for thinking that his wife was in danger. He felt guilt, for having failed to protect or save her. He felt fury at the one who took her away from him. He felt despair, for knowing that everything was turning on the way it was for him and for his wife. He felt...
The sound of a phone buzzing brought him back to reality, making the wolf's ears perk, before his head rose.
He spent a moment trying to pinpoint where the sound was coming, before he started to get up again. He looked to the side, and saw a phone on the ground. Was it the one that was ringing?
No.
It was the burned phone Tasman show him the previous night, and had left behind for him right by the side of his unconscious form. Under the phone, was a piece of paper, neatly folded. Eliot picked both, and held the phone on his paw as he unfolded the paper, saying that there was a single phrase written on it:
REMEMBER MY WORDS
Eliot looked at it, before he once more heard the ringing. It was not the phone he had on his paws. It was the ringtone of his own phone. The one he dropped on the entrance of his house when he came in and found it trashed.
Getting up, Eliot felt pain. His skin healed from the bruises of last night, but the pain was still there. Eliot's mind barely noticed it. Everything that was happening was too much for his mind to process all at once.
Chloe was in danger. She had been kidnapped by her ex-fiancé, who wanted something the enforcers took from him in return for her release.
It was the kind of thing that would make the head of any man spin. Eliot himself included.
Amidst the confusion, Eliot was able to recognize the need to answer his phone. Was it the build-in reflex of answering to the phone that one got in the modern society? Was it curiosity to see who was calling him in a moment like that? Was it just so his brain could have something to wrap itself around so he would not lose it for good?
Eliot could not tell. He could not focus enough to make heads and tails out of it.
Eliot found his phone, in front of an ajar door, which Tasman must have not bothered to close when he left. His phone was ringing, and it was showing the picture of his partner in it. It was a photo that Eliot took by surprise, showing the stoic panther driving their cruiser. Eliot used that picture when he added the feline to his contacts.
Eliot was nearly on autopilot as he simply picked the phone and answered.
"Hello?" He said, with an unusually shaky voice. Then, the voice on the other end said:
"Fanghanel. This is Clawrence. I've got your message from last night. Did you wanted to talk to me?"
Oh, he wanted.
Eliot wanted nothing more than to talk to Gerald. To talk to anyone. To ask for advice. To ask for help. He wanted to explain everything to Gerald and have him help him organize the entire ZPD into a mammal-hunt for that bastard who dared to kidnapped Chloe and then give him a good beating before taking his dear Pumpkin back home.
However, something stopped him before he could.
Eliot looked at his other paw. At the note in with the words: REMEMBER MY WORDS written on it on high cursive.
Eliot remembered.
If you fail to bring me my package back on time, she dies. You try telling anyone what's happening, she dies.
"N-no..." Eliot said, after a moment's hesitation.
"Really?" Clawrance asked from the other end of the call. "Because you left me a message yesterday saying that there was something important. Something regarding my contact and the file he brought."
You tell anyone about me, she dies.
"I-it was..." Eliot said, trying to look for an excuse. "Hmm, it was... that the guy didn't showed up."
"Excuse me?"
"I mean, the guy showed up." Eliot said, "But, he said he could not help. Something about it being a great risk... the guy looked pretty nervous. Kept looking over his shoulder and stuff."
There was a silence following the wolf's words. Eliot was silently praying that the panther was going to accept this answer and not press on the subject.
"Is that so?" Clawrence said after a few seconds. "Didn't you said he had file and you looked through it?"
Eliot panicked, looking to the sides as it he was looking for an answer.
"It was not... not a file on the storehouse or anything." Elio said, "It was some file full of useless papers. I looked through it and only saw reports on things I didn't understood."
"Is that so?" Gerald said, "Could you bring them to me so I could get a look?"
"No." Eliot said, being blunter than he had wished. He recovered.
"I-it is just some reports regarding what seems to be accountant work and some release papers for a thing or two. Nothing on the storehouse or on whoever owns that. The hyena said it was all you were getting from him, and that he could not get anything better than that."
Silence.
Had he bought it?
"So, he didn't gave anything useful?" Gerald said, sounding as if he really believed what Eliot just said. "He had specifically told me he would try getting useful information on the subject. Maybe I should meet with him and talk about the subject."
"You better not." Eliot said once more before he could stop himself, and then, he proceeded:
"The guy said he doesn't wants to see you again." Eliot said. "The guy really sounded like didn't wanted to have anything to do with you again. Something about you two getting even and he not owing anything to you anymore, or something like that. I think he doesn't likes you."
Well, Eliot was not lying. The guy really sounded like he didn't wanted to have any contact with Clawrence after doing him this last favor.
More silence followed those words, before Clawrence spoke:
"I see... Well, he never guaranteed me that he would obtain the desired results." Gerald admitted, "He said he would do his best. That was all I asked of him in return to considering our debt ended for good. I thought about demanding a result from him, but I was afraid of being too patronizing and causing him to close. Perhaps I should have..."
Clawrence sounded sad at this, and Eliot felt bad for his friend. He wanted to tell him the truth. To tell him that his contact got information on the guy and that Eliot knew exactly who he was, so they could work on bringing the guy down together. Maybe he could tell Clawrence right now, and they both could try and investigate it in secret. Maybe figure out something together...
But...
"You try to trick me, pass me behind, or get the best of me in any way and, guess what, she dies!"
No.
He could not try that. He could not put Chloe in danger.
The guy was a mage. He had ways of knowing things. Eliot witnessed it himself. It was possible he was watching him on that very moment. He could be hearing every word he was saying to Gerald at that very moment. If he heard a single word that sounded like Eliot was trying to get the best of him...
He couldn't. It was too risky.
"Fanghanel?" Gerald's voice came from the other end. "Are you still there?"
"Yes, sorry!" Eliot quickly apologized, and he was soon talking to his partner:
"Look, don't sweat it, okay? You did what you could. We can't get what we want all the time, can we? It doesn't means you are not good or anything, it just meant this time you didn't got it. We can still get something good if we continue investigation. Lets just turn our cranks up and put our tails full gear ahead, alright? I mean, we are the dynamic due Fanghanel and Clawrence! White and black! The two opposites that make the great team! Yin and yang! Those are us!"
Even Eliot thought he was forcing too much, and he was afraid he had raised suspicious. However, Gerald was already used to how Eliot was. So, the antics he had at that moment didn't made him think anything was out of place or strange.
"Yes, I assume you are right." Gerald said after a moment of silence. "We'll just keep moving forward. We can discuss new possible lines of investigation at work. By the way, would you like me to go pick you up today?"
Yes, and I'd like you to bring a forensic team and the enforcers to search at this places for Tasman's clues to find out where he took Chloe. Eliot wanted to say, but instead, he only said:
"No need, dude. I'll get the subway. See you at work. I have to shower now. Yesterday I just arrived home and blacked out. Don't want to go to work reeking."
"Very well. See you at work." Gerald said, to which Eliot answered:
"Bye."
With the, the call ended. Eliot remained where he was, slowly moving the phone and looking at it.
A part of him thought that he had wasted a chance of rescuing Chloe. That he had thrown away possibly the only chance of saving his wife the right way. However, the fear of Tasman doing anything to her if he thought Eliot was trying to pass him behind was enough to make Eliot not even think of trying to ask for help.
It was enough to make him think twice about doing anything that would anger the man who currently had Chloe on his claws.
"You succeed in bringing me back the package on time and without anyone figuring out what you are doing and why, and you have my word that I won't lay a single finger on Chloe."
There was no telling if this was true. There was no telling if Tasman would really keep that word of not hurting Chloe if he got what he wanted. Still, with his wife's life on the line, and not being able to ask for help, Eliot saw no other option but to believe the male thylacine would keep his word.
Now, he needed to figure out how to get him the package...
What a problem to solve...
That was quite some problem to solve for Harry.
How could he learn more about magecraft?
He already figured out the most basic of all: how to activate his magic circuits. Now that this was done, he was able to do all the rest.
But he didn't knew the rest. Not at all.
All he knew as a single spell...
"Aspiro." Harry Hopps said, laying on his chest on the ground and resting his head on his crossed arms, as he blew out wind. A gust of powerful wind and caused a single plastic bottle to be blow away and collide with a brick wall on the other end of the alleyway where he had been practicing. With a little alteration on the positioning of his lips, and a command given to his circuits, the flow of wind changed, and the plastic bottle was blow upwards without hitting the ground. It flew up in the air, and then it fell back. Then, Harry once more blew, this time in direction to the ground, and it caused the wind to travel down, then move across the ground, and then suddenly draft up. The upwards draft caught the bottle, and then it spun in the air as it floated suspended by the wind, until Harry stopped blowing, and the bottle landed perfectly on the ground.
That was the result of Harry's practice with that specific spell in the past days. Ever since he figured out he could do it, Harry did what any people in his position would do: he practiced as much as he could.
He only knew the most basic of the spell, but it was not hard to figure out details on his own. He had to do a lot of practice on his own, and he learned a few basic things on his own. For example, he learned how to achieve different effects with his breath by changing the position of his lips. It was, like, direction the place where his breath was by changing the positioning of his lips. It was pretty much a no brainer.
However, as he trained, Harry figured out some not-so-easy things. He figured out how to change the flow of energy around his mouth.
It was basically visualizing how the energy would flow and move around his mouth, and sending a command to his circuits to cause the energy to flow differently on his lips and cheeks. Harry was actually surprised at how naturally it came to him. Of course, it didn't came easily, and it caused a lot of funny feelings on his face as he figured out how to do it.
However, once he did he figured out how to do certain things. For example, he figured out how to make the wind he blew change direction after blowing it. It was all a question of putting his lips and his energy on the right way to cause the wind to move in a certain way after it left his mouth. Kind of like a trick. It was a neat one. He also figured out how to control the speed and strength of the wind that came out of his mouth, and how to control it by changing the way he was blowing and controlling the energy on his mouth.
He had practiced a lot in the last days, as he invested virtually all free time he had to experimenting with this spell. Now, Harry had the impression he had fully mastered it. He could do things like what he just did with the bottle, and it came as naturally as using his paws now.
Harry was like that. He focused his attention at learning a new thing, and he quickly dominated it. It was as if the bunny could very naturally pick up explanations and orientations, and easily take them to heart. Even when there was no one around him to teach, once Harry had picked up the right way to do something, it was just as if he had known it his entire life. He was a quick learner, and he had heard it many times during his life.
It seemed that it also applied to magecraft.
But now, Harry had a new problem.
Now that he mastered the Aspiro spell, Harry was eager to learn more. He figured out how his magic circuits worked and he mastered a simple spell. He even figured out how to control and direct magical energy through his circuits (although he didn't tried it in parts of his body other than his face). He certainly was qualified to learn more about magecraft now that he mastered all of this basic stuff.
But... where to learn?
That was Harry's current problem.
He learned a spell. Now what?
Mastering a single element of something don't makes you an expert on everything. Harry was smart enough to know that.
He needed to learn more spells, but he didn't know where to look for new spells.
It was not like there were spell book sessions on the libraries. Harry knew because he had tried looking there.
There was also no information online on how to cast spells. There was information regarding ritual and esoteric practices, but Harry found them to be confusing and a bit too esoteric to be actually something significant.
Harry even tried to cast spells from the Harry Trotter books. He would point his finger at an object while chanting vingardium leviosa, only to see the object not moving a single inch. It nearly felt as if that old worm-out shoe was mocking him for thinking that would work.
Magecraft didn't worked like that. Harry knew that because he had watched the interview of Zillah Ferron months ago, and he still remembered all she said back then, or most of it. Magecraft was not simply about willing something to happen and have it miraculously become reality. There was a whole process to make it work. You needed the method through which it will happen, a logical process through which something is to become reality. There were rules to make magecraft happen.
And Harry didn't knew the rules.
Of course, he figured a few things by himself, but this didn't meant he could figure out all of magecraft by himself. Harry didn't thought himself as that smart and, to be completely honest, he was a bit scared of what could happen if he screwed up while trying to figure out spells on his own.
At the very least, he would obtain no results. At worst-case scenario, he could turn his own arms into snakes, if such a thing was even possible.
Harry knew he could not just wing it with magecraft. Too much space for error and too many unknown variables. Harry knew that he needed help for this.
He needed someone to teach him.
However, he most certainly couldn't turn to his mother and ask her to teach him.
She already got that strange look on her face whenever they asked questions to her about her past. Harry could not simply go to her and ask her to teach him magecraft. He was pretty sure she would say no on the spot, not to mention how she could probably react upon finding out Harry was a mage like her. Well, maybe not like her, but certainly one that could do magecraft.
His family reaction to his newfound abilities was what worried Harry. Of course, he was pretty sure they would still care for him as family, but this certainly didn't made it easier for him to just go to them and say "hey, I'm a mage now".
His mother's possible reaction was what worried Harry the most, once his mother gave the impression that she wanted to leave her whole past of being a mage far behind her. Harry was afraid she could not like the fact he had been practicing magecraft on his own...
That was why Harry had been careful. He had made sure not to let his family know what he had been doing, and he spent the last days telling them he was spending the days walking around the city and taking in the sights when, in truth, he was coming to the very same alley every day to practice with the only spell he knew. Sometimes he would eat breakfast in a hurry and then leave the apartment. At one occasion, he completely skipped lunch as he got distracted in practicing with his newfound magical powers, and he ate twice as much during dinner that night.
Harry often got home tired, and blamed this on the hurriedness of the city when someone asked, when the truth was that he spent a lot time practicing a spell, and it took a toll on him. However, Harry felt it was worth it at the end of the day. It was like learning a new kind of skill. A skill he only thought he would ever have in dreams. Harry always loved fantasy stories, with mammals with magic powers who learned how to use them and lived all manners of adventures in the secret worlds of the supernatural. Can you blame him for getting excited as he saw himself in the place of one of them now?
However, like on the characters of the stories, Harry now saw himself facing a difficulty, as his thirst for knowledge and learning made him want to learn more magecraft, but he was still unable to find any viable option of learning.
He wanted to keep going, but he had nowhere to go.
Maybe this was what birds felt when they were locked in a cage, unable to fly away.
But how could he fly when he didn't knew how to? How to learn when you didn't had anyone to teach you? In the past, Harry had someone to teach him, either was it a person who was training him into a new profession or a tutorial on ZooTube given by some guy from India. However, the subject in here was magecraft, and there was not anyone around who could give lessons on it. At least, no one that he knew.
The very fact that he learned a single spell was pure and complete chance. It just happened that he heard it straight from the mouth of a mage when they visited...
Harry's eyes widened, and his ears perked as the answer came to him.
The obvious answer.
So obvious that Harry felt like a complete chump for not having thinking about this first...
Sophie Wilde was alone on her apartment, what has been kind of a norm lately.
Of course, Betty still came to see her every Tuesday and Friday for tea, but other than that Sophie didn't received any visits, except when Nick came to see her. Ever since her past as a mage was reveal, it seemed that it was a follow up of the trend of most people she knew avoiding her.
No longer would some people of her work come to ask her to hang out with them on the city on a café. No longer would that wolf pup who lived two floors down come to see her lured by the smell of the pie she just took off the oven and timidly ask for a slice.
Sophie was a bit sadden by this, but she accepted it. After all, it was not as if she could force them to come and spend time with her. She simply contented herself to spend her days on her apartment in solitude, knowing that she could always knock on Betty's door if she felt too lonely.
That morning, however, Sophie was surprise by a knock to her door.
The vixen put her cup down, got up from her couch, leaving the television showing the morning shows, and walk to the door as she wondered who it was visiting her.
She found a familiar dark bunny on the other side, smiling at her as he looked at her through his glasses.
"Good morning, Mrs. Wilde." Harry Hopps said, very politely. "Hope I'm not interrupting. May I come in? I'd like to talk to you about a few things, if you have time."
The bunny's tone was very casual, and it didn't let show the thought on his mind that Mrs. Wilde was the solution of his problem...
That was definitely the solution of his problem.
The last twenty-four hours were a daze of work for Peter. He would spend hours at a time working on his golems, one after the other. He worked nearly like a machine, not making stops to eat or sleep, and he seemed like he could keep working like that for days, if he had to. The only moments when he stopped was when he got too emotional and needed to break something, punch the walls hard or sulk is a corner as he cursed at all of the ones who caused him problems, Nicholas Wilde in particular.
Now, he was done.
His golems were ready. They were a rushed job, but they definitely would do the trick.
This would solve the problem.
They would not get the package back, and neither would they put him in a better place with that arrogant thylacine Tasman. However, they would solve a much older problem, one that had been nagging at him for decades now.
Nicholas would never see them coming, not until it was too late. Oh, how Peter looked forward to see his expression morphing from surprise to shock and then into fear, before it finally changed into agony before the light left his eyes...
"Look at this." A voice immediately said, coming from behind the panther. He didn't needed to turn around to know who it was. "What a nice surprise to come here and see you kept yourself busy."
The panther turned around, and just glared at Cornelius, who looked back at him with a smile.
"But, again, it is no surprise." Cornelius said, looking at him with a friendly face. "After all, you were always a hard worker. Always keeping yourself busy as a bee."
"You talk as if I had a choice." Peter said, looking at the fox with venom on his indifferent eyes. "As if I had any other choice but to be useful around that house so you wouldn't throw me away like garbage."
"Oh, yeah..." Cornelius said, as he remembered that detail. "I think they said that to get at you. Of course they wouldn't throw you away."
"Of course not." Peter said, "Because if they didn't, they would no longer have their own personal slave to boss around. Nor would they have some 'unique specimen' to study and experiment with. Ain't that right?"
Cornelius looked at him. "You really resent the clan, don't you?"
"Can you blame?" Peter asked, looking at the fox, who shook his head.
"Of course not." Cornelius said, "Not one bit."
Peter looked at him, and he let out a scoffing sound, before turning back to his golems, making a final check on them, to be sure they were right and ready for the mission of taking down Nicholas Wilde.
"So, did you come here only to remind me why I despise all of you so much?" Peter asked, "Or there is actually a purpose for you coming here to bother me after everything ended?"
"Who said it ended?" Cornelius asked, looking at him.
"Because it did." Peter said. "You took too long. Tasman already took over the case and he is telling the rest of the MTC to cut me off. All because I decided to go along with your stupid plans."
Peter sounded just a tad bit upset as he said that, and he finished checking on his golems.
"I guess it is on me, in part, for trusting the word of a Wilde."
"Now that's rash." Cornelius said, looking at him. "Especially with someone who only wanted to help you."
"And what a help you gave me." Peter said, without turning to look at the fox. "Now I am in more trouble than before. And, since you don't have the package, I only assume your plan went wrong. Great job you and your freelancer did."
"Yeah." The fox said, as if admitting his own fault. "By the way, I should let you know the freelancer was captured, and he already spilled all the beans."
This caused Peter to stop and look over his shoulder.
"Don't worry, he didn't told them anything they didn't already know. All I told him was that the package belonged to the MTC, and you wanted it back. He doesn't even knows for sure what the package is. Don't worry, you won't get into more trouble than you are now."
"Well, that's really good, ain't it?" Peter said coldly, before turning back to his golems. "So, the freelancer is now a prisoner." He said, sounding upset but quite uninterested at the same time.
"It is really over now. Not really surprised."
"And yet, there you are, getting the golems ready for the next step." Cornelius said, "As if you knew I was coming to inform you of the plan."
"Next step?" Peter said, turning to look at Cornelius, who smiled at him.
"You didn't thought I would place all my bets on a freelancer, did you?" Cornelius said to him, his smirk taking a mischievous undertone "No. Shepard was only part of my plan. The plan is now going to the next step, and we will need some golems for this. Those you just made will do nicely."
"No." Peter said immediately. "I'm done with you and your little plans."
"Oh, come on." Cornelius said, "Just hop in. It will be pretty fun and it will end very nicely."
"I'm done with you!" Peter nearly roared. "I'm done taking part on your little schemes and games! That is all this is to you, isn't it? Nothing more than a game to keep yourself busy! That's so typical of a Wilde! The Lords of Games! Always turning everything in a great play for themselves! Using everyone around you as pawns! Well, I spent too long being your pawn, and I won't be playing any more of your games! Just leave now! Vanish from here while you still can!"
After the panther was done with his tirade, Cornelius only looked at him. He seemed completely unmoved by the panther's roaring and anger. He simply looked at him with a smile.
"Yes, you are right on that point." Cornelius said to him. "This is a game. A typical Wilde game. You know how those go, don't you?"
Peter said nothing, and Cornelius continued:
"The game has already started. All pieces are in position and already moving. Both the ones in sight and the ones in the shadows."
The way he smirked was unsettling as he spoke of everything as nothing more than a game.
"This will keep moving forward, as stopping now is not an option." Cornelius said to the panther. "If you don't want to be part of the game anymore, it's fine. I'll find another player to take your place. But, in case you want to be part of it, you are more than welcome. And don't worry, you won't be just a 'pawn', your place in this game is more meaningful than that. And there will be a nice prize for you at the end."
"Prize?" Petr said, looking at him. "What 'prize'?"
Cornelius smiled.
"Well, I can't promise you will have your package back." The fox said, "But I can promise you that, if all goes according to plan, than you won't be in trouble with your group anymore."
The panther stared at him, and Cornelius said:
"And, you will have your chance of confronting Nicholas."
Peter scoffed.
"You said that last time."
"And I didn't lied, did I?" Cornelius said to him, "You may have failed to get him, but you had him in your claws, didn't you? This time, you might have a better chance. You two will be face to face and your golems will be doing their part making sure no one interferes this time. So, what do you say?"
For a long moment, Peter only looked at the fox, who continued to smile at him.
He should have refused whatever little plan it was that Cornelius was. He should have just dropped out of whatever game it was that fox was playing. But still...
Dammit, why is it that Wildes are so good in talking others into their schemes? The panther thought to himself. I must have completely lost my mind.
As Peter said he was in, Cornelius smirk widened.